Thirteen Years
by xueling
Summary: Eri x Kogoro. One shot. Reasons for doing what they do, and acting how they act. Underneath it all.


Notes: Really needed to get this idea out of my head, even though I acknowledge that you'll probably be able to poke some holes in the plot if you tried. I just think it's really strange how Eri and Kogoro (him especially) don't really have background stories, at least when manga is concerned. And I'm of the belief that it's forced how Eri understands that Kogoro shot her to save her, yet is blind to the intentions of Kogoro, when he told her that her cooking sucked. I definitely interpreted it more of as him trying to tell her to get more rest. Couldn't get over it, so here it is.

Thirteen years. It's been thirteen years since I stepped out of this door. Thirteen years of being an irresponsible parent, an absent wife. I wouldn't have resorted to this if I had the choice, but I didn't, and it's been thirteen years too many. It has been rough for me, but even more so for Kogoro.

He, and most bystanders for that matter, believes that I angrily stormed out of the door because he insulted my absolute dearth of culinary skills. Many have told me that my argument with him was petty and my reason for leaving was next to baseless. They're right, it was. Even if I were to walk out, it would be for his womanising and drinking. Yet I know, this is his defence response whenever I'm not happy with him.

If only they knew that what they're seeing is merely an image of me, a facade, an extension of my true self. And I'd almost resigned to it, it almost seemed as if life as I'd known it had been completely destroyed. By a mere call, and an insistent red laser. Glimmers of hope and chances at redemption come in precious small bundles. Mine happened to come in the form of Conan. Someone I believed had much more of a story than meets the eye. Someone I believed was in the same boat as I. And someone I believed had a shot at resolving it, once and for all.

That was what I was waiting for. Not for Kogoro to change his ways and realise his mistakes, as much as that would have been greatly appreciated. Nothing within his ability had the power to change anything, except if he could rid of the threat. And after thirteen years, I finally get to see it happen. Like a dream. The police were finally able to uproot and annihilate the entire operation- of course, with significant help from Conan and the rest of them.

After thirteen years of bottling it all and having my life run by people I can't even see and most definitely do not agree with, I can finally let it all go. I can do as I so please. I've forgotten how that felt.

But I'll never forget that fateful day when I brought Ran to pass Kogoro a change of clothes, and that Murakami suddenly jumped at me and took me hostage. On the surface, Kogoro was overconfident and missed Murakami. However I am perfectly cognizant of the obvious fact, at least to me at that time, that he grazed my leg to protect me. To most, Kogoro messed up big time and no longer had a place in the MPD. To me, he did the right thing, I couldn't say that I would be able to do the same thing, I probably lack the nerves of steel to pull of such a stunt. On the surface, it was merely a case of a visitor being taken hostage and it was resolved finally with the departure of Kogoro. They couldn't have been more wrong.

It was the beginning of a major turning point in my life, and I don't mean it in a good way. I'll never forget the chilling phone call that afternoon informing me that one of their unimportant paid agents who was under police custody could easily pull this kind of trick; what about their highly trained snipers whose rifle was currently trained on me. Sure enough, there was the ominous red laser directed at my chest. But they wouldn't kill me, they wouldn't end my miserable life for me, they would swiftly assassinate my family members if I refused to comply. I attempted to raise alarm bells, inform someone, seek help, but it was no use, they were watching my every move. The shocking amount of detail they could furnish me with, on Kogoro, Ran and I convinced me that these people, whoever they were, meant business. I would do anything to keep Ran and Kogoro safe.

Like I was merely a chess piece in some larger game, they demanded that I abandon the people closest to me and cold-heartedly walk out of the Mouri household that night. They wanted me to work like a robot and focus all my efforts on my career so that I could establish myself as one of the most elite lawyers in the country. From a mediocre lawyer that I was then, they wanted me to rise through the ranks at unprecedented speed. They gave me three years, leaving me with the message that I was one of the best in Teitan High and that I would surely be able to do it. I will do anything to keep Ran and Kogoro safe, even today.

Walking out of the life that I'd been so accustomed to and into the wider world of unknown was probably the hardest thing that I've ever had to do. To live those first few weeks with a red laser sporadically appearing on me precisely when I was trying to inform someone had me living on the edge. I consider myself a strong person, but the constant surveillance proved too much for my feeble soul. I shattered. And after I shattered, I started complying and I had results to show for it. They stopped bothering me that much, but I would still receive the occasional phone call.

In those thirteen years of me being a hostage to these people on the other end of the phone, the only things grounding me in sanity was Ran, my lovely daughter. And the meetings with Kogoro that Ran would carefully plan. Though it always ended up ugly with Kogoro and I, I knew that underneath it all, he still loved me very much. He was still awaiting my return, which seemed unlikely at some points in time. During those times, that was enough lifelines to keep me going, to keep me hoping for something that seemed impossible.

Now, I stand outside the door that I stepped out of thirteen years ago. I'm back. Back to the life that I chose, back to the way things were. Yet over these thirteen years, so much has changed.

I'd always wondered why they wanted me to be an elite lawyer. I figured it was for me to serve their interests in an unfortunate instance when things don't go according to plan and members actually fall into the hands of the authorities alive. To be honest, I never held it against Kogoro. True, I get jealous when I see him flirting with other women, but I know that his tendency to do that is significantly lower previously. True, I despise his drinking habits, and I hate how he's such an incompetent detective. Of course I'd be sharp enough to observe that Kogoro wasn't actually solving most of the cases by himself. I know him well enough.

But I've had the niggling suspicion that with Kogoro, things aren't actually that straightforward. Just like I've been struck by demands by this organization, it isn't that hard to imagine Kogoro being stuck with them too. And for it to similarly govern his actions as it does mine. If I were to hazard a guess, his demands probably were for him to leave the MPD and anger me till I left the house that same night.

I reach to crisply rap on the door, but before I get a chance to, it swings open, much to my surprise.

"Eri"

"Kogoro"

"It's over. Once and for all." "And now that it's over, come back will you? Please Eri, I'm begging you. Please?"

"It's over. It's finally over. And I'm back. For good."


End file.
